What is in a name?


Categories

IKEA Product Naming Conventions
Product Category Naming Rule Examples
Upholstered furniture, Sofas, Armchairs, Coffee tables Swedish place names (toponyms) KLIPPAN, EKTORP, SÖDERHAMN, POÄNG, KIVIK
Bookcases / Bookshelf series Professions, Scandinavian boy's names BILLY, EXPEDIT, KALLAX, ALEX, HEMNES
Beds, Wardrobes, Hall furniture Norwegian place names HEMNES, MALM, MANDAL, DOMBÅS, GLADSTAD
Boxes, Wall decorations, Pictures, Frames, Clocks Swedish slang/colloquial expressions, Swedish place names FLÄRDFULL, RIBBA, FISKBO, VÄXBO, BJÖRKSTA
Dining tables and chairs Finnish & Swedish place names BJURSTA, KAUSTBY, INGATORP, DOCKSTA
Bathroom articles & storage Scandinavian/Swedish lakes, rivers, and bays BOLMEN, TOFTAN, VOXNAN, LIMMIAREN, HIMLEÅN
Outdoor/Garden furniture Scandinavian/Swedish islands ÄPPLARÖ, SOLLERON, MASTHOLMEN, ASKHOLMEN
Children's articles Mammals, birds, adjectives, animals (Swedish names) DUKTIG, KRITTER, SNIGLAR, RÄVUNGE, BLÅHAJ
Fabrics and Curtains Scandinavian girl's names AINA, HEDDA, SIGRID, MERETE, GUNRID
Bed textiles/linen, covers, pillows Flowers, plants, precious stones ULLVIDE, SMÖRBALL, NATTJASMIN, STENKLÖVER
Carpets / Rugs Danish place names ÅDUM, VEMB, SINDAL, KATTRUP, KOLDBY
Desks, Office chairs Scandinavian boy's names MARKUS, HELMER, MIKE, TORBJÖRN, JÄRVFJÄLLET
Lighting products Units of measurement, seasons, months, days, shipping/nautical terms, music/chemistry terms, Swedish place names ÅRSTID, HEKTAR, NYMÅNE, MELODI, HÖLJES
Kitchen accessories/utensils Fish, mushrooms, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits, berries, foreign words, functional descriptions KONCIS, SKARPT, KROSSA, STANDARDMÅTT
Kitchens (cabinet systems) Grammatical terms, functional descriptions RATIONELL, SEKTION
Bowls, vases, candles, candle holders Swedish place names, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits, berries SOCKER, BRUNBÄR, BESTIGA

Categories

IKEA Product Naming Conventions
Product Category Naming Rule Examples
Upholstered furniture, Sofas, Armchairs, Coffee tables Swedish place names (toponyms) KLIPPAN, EKTORP, SÖDERHAMN, POÄNG, KIVIK
Bookcases / Bookshelf series Professions, Scandinavian boy's names BILLY, EXPEDIT, KALLAX, ALEX, HEMNES
Beds, Wardrobes, Hall furniture Norwegian place names HEMNES, MALM, MANDAL, DOMBÅS, GLADSTAD
Boxes, Wall decorations, Pictures, Frames, Clocks Swedish slang/colloquial expressions, Swedish place names FLÄRDFULL, RIBBA, FISKBO, VÄXBO, BJÖRKSTA
Dining tables and chairs Finnish & Swedish place names BJURSTA, KAUSTBY, INGATORP, DOCKSTA
Bathroom articles & storage Scandinavian/Swedish lakes, rivers, and bays BOLMEN, TOFTAN, VOXNAN, LIMMIAREN, HIMLEÅN
Outdoor/Garden furniture Scandinavian/Swedish islands ÄPPLARÖ, SOLLERON, MASTHOLMEN, ASKHOLMEN
Children's articles Mammals, birds, adjectives, animals (Swedish names) DUKTIG, KRITTER, SNIGLAR, RÄVUNGE, BLÅHAJ
Fabrics and Curtains Scandinavian girl's names AINA, HEDDA, SIGRID, MERETE, GUNRID
Bed textiles/linen, covers, pillows Flowers, plants, precious stones ULLVIDE, SMÖRBALL, NATTJASMIN, STENKLÖVER
Carpets / Rugs Danish place names ÅDUM, VEMB, SINDAL, KATTRUP, KOLDBY
Desks, Office chairs Scandinavian boy's names MARKUS, HELMER, MIKE, TORBJÖRN, JÄRVFJÄLLET
Lighting products Units of measurement, seasons, months, days, shipping/nautical terms, music/chemistry terms, Swedish place names ÅRSTID, HEKTAR, NYMÅNE, MELODI, HÖLJES
Kitchen accessories/utensils Fish, mushrooms, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits, berries, foreign words, functional descriptions KONCIS, SKARPT, KROSSA, STANDARDMÅTT
Kitchens (cabinet systems) Grammatical terms, functional descriptions RATIONELL, SEKTION
Bowls, vases, candles, candle holders Swedish place names, adjectives, spices, herbs, fruits, berries SOCKER, BRUNBÄR, BESTIGA

Research Question

Can we use the naming conventions of IKEA products to predict the category of a product?

Step 1: Scrape the data

Build a web scraper to collect product names, descriptions, and categories from the IKEA website.

Variables:

  • product_name: The name of the product.
  • product_category: The outcome variable.
  • short_description: A brief description of the product.
  • price: The price of the product.
  • dimensions: The dimensions of the product (length, width, height).
  • other_colours: A binary variable indicating if the product is available in other colours.

Step 2: Baseline Model

Baseline Results

Text Embeddings?

Text Embeddings

Dimensionality Reduction

Text Embeddings for Product Names

Wow!

We get some signal from the product names. Does this help us predict the category?

Step 3: Prediction using Text Embeddings with UMAP

Step 4: Are the UMAP Features Meaningful?

Takeaways

  • The naming conventions of IKEA products can provide useful signals for predicting product categories. (54% vs 60% F1-score)
  • Text embeddings, particularly when combined with dimensionality reduction techniques like UMAP, can enhance classification performance.